Have Passport, Will Travel

Well it's that time of the year to dream of travel plans.  Before I can do anything concrete I need to renew my passport. I got my last passport in November 2005 but they are only good for 5 years. Actually it works out to 4 1/2 years since you must have a valid passport with at least 6 months left on it before you can travel. Mine will expire in about 6 months so it must be renewed.

Passport applications and renewals are done at the Passport Canada Office at the Sinclair Centre in downtown Vancouver (corner of Hastings and Granville).  That is where I spent my time Tuesday. I had to wait until Tuesday since the Monday is the annual statutory holiday, Queen Victoria Day in honour of Queen Victoria.

Photograph of Queen Victoria by Alexander Bassano, 1887.

On my way to the passport office I caught a glimpse of this demonstration. I also decided to stop off at the Dressew, a Vancouver institution; where I bought skeins and skeins of wool and cotton yarn to make dishcloths and try my hand at a child's sweater. See  more about my knitting adventure here and here.

I finally made it to this place.

The passport office is on the second floor. There were a lot of people in there but the line up moved fairly quickly. I waited in one line for an agent to review my documents and give me a number which would be called when another agent would take my money and give me instructions.

Altogether I was in and out of the office within a half hour. It cost me $87 Canadian. Twenty of this is for the processing fee which includes sending my passport to me by registered mail (requiring adult signature for delivery acceptance).  It is the same price for an original application or a renewal application. I was told to expect my passport around June 8, 2010.  If I needed it quicker, I would pay an additional $20 and be able to pick it up at the same office on the third day after drop off.

This got me to wondering how much it costs in your country for a passport (original or renewal) and how long it takes to process. I'd love to hear from you!

Demonstrators Gather at Carnegie Center ~ Wordless Wednesday, May 26, 2010

 
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Update May 26, 2010 - This update was posted due to the great interest in the subject matters of the demonstration. I am not 100 percent sure about the demonstration but I believe it was organized in protest of the closure of a health centre located next door. The building where the people are gathering is a community centre which provides recreation and other programs for the very dispossessed people living in the area. These people are the  poorest of the poor in Canada and many of them are on drugs and have health issues such as HIV.

The regional health authority removed funding for the health centre recently because it said that the same services were being provided at another location in the neighbourhood. The residents disagree with this assessment and so took to the streets. This is only one of a series of demonstrations on this matter. When I passed through the area on the transit bus the crowd was just getting organized.

Thank you to  my readers for your keen interest in these photos.

My World Tuesday - May 25, 2010

I was on a walk earlier this week and wanted to share some photos of the houses in the area. If you look at the map below, the area in which I took these photos is represented by the purple house icon.

Many of my blog readers are from Australia and Africa and are curious to know how we live in Canada and what the houses, shops and tourist sites look like. This post will give one little peek into some of the housing here though there are many other neighbourhoods with many styles of houses and apartments.  This particular neighbourhood is a well established one and the costs of a detached home in the area would run upwards of $1 million Canadian dollars. Perhaps they even cost more than that as a fabulous two bedroom condominium here can now cost over a million dollars at the higher end of things. That is a lot of money but these are by no means the most expensive properties in the city.

You can check out the real estate market and see what is available in different parts of the city at this site used by realtors.  Click here.
Enjoy the tour.

Click here to see more scenes from around the world.

Blue Monday ~ May 24, 2010

I took these photos of blue signage on a recent trip to the interior City of Kamloops. 

Read more about Kamloops here and here if you like.

Join Sally and the gang for more Blue Monday here.

Another Scenic Sunday in Vancouver

In one of my walks this week I took this northward facing shot. In the distance is the City of Vancouver. The high tower in the background is a great place from which to see the sights of Vancouver on a sunny day by going to the observation deck at the top of the building. If you'd like to read more about the tower click here.

I will be posting photos of houses in this neighbourhood for my foreign blogger friends who are interested in how we live in Canada. You can find them on my blog on Tuesday. 

Click here to view more wonderful scenes from around the world.  

http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/